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In Wake of Renewed Sanctions, Senior UAE Official Slams Terror Group Hamas over “Solidarity” with Iran

Amid signs of a growing rift between the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hamas and the Gulf states, a senior United Arab Emirates government official blasted the Palestinian movement for speaking out against the reimposition of sanctions by the United States against Iran, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Hamas was a “tool” of Iran in the region, and that its expression of solidarity with the Islamic Republic cannot contribute to efforts towards the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Hamas’s solidarity with the Iranian government does not take into consideration the Gulf and Arab anxiety over Tehran’s regional interference,” Gargash tweeted Tuesday evening. “It is unnecessary. It pushes the Palestinian issue into a maze and confirms the opinion that the movement, in its orientation, is nothing more than an Iranian regional tool.”

Hamas, the Islamist terror group which exercises complete political and military control over the Gaza Strip, had earlier in the week voiced their support for the regime in Tehran in the face of a fresh wave of U.S. sanctions, targeting Iran’s banking, oil and energy sectors.

Hamas condemned Washington’s reimposition of sanctions on Monday, which it said seek “to destabilize security and stability in the region…and strengthen the Zionist project,” and affirmed its “solidarity with Iran’s government and people.” The Times reported that Hamas officials made several visits to Iran and met senior members of the Iranian regime over the past 18 months.

A spokesman for Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, later attacked the UAE for their “abnormal” comments and criticized them for hosting Israeli officials in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The UAE, alongside the majority of Sunni Muslim states in the region, vehemently opposes Iran and its support for armed proxies throughout the Middle East. The Iranian regime, meanwhile, faces heightened pressure at home, as more Iranians are using social media to express anger at the regime for spending billions of dollars on regional proxy wars and supporting terrorist groups, instead of investing it in the country’s collapsing economy.

In June, protesters on videos posted to social media were heard chanting “Death to Palestine,” “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon” and “Leave Syria and think of us.” Other protesters were heard saying, “We don’t want the ayatollahs” and “Death to the dictator.”